BUILDING the BUSINESS CASE: Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Green Offices
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BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE: Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Green Offices OCTOBER 2016 PROJECT LED BY: CAMPAIGN SPONSORS: This report is an output of the World Green Building WELCOME FROM OUR CHAIR Council’s Better Places for People campaign. BETH AMBROSE It draws on the valuable leadership of over 50 global Beth has been a valuable chair of the Offices Working Group. She is a Director building developers, designers and architects, occupiers, within the Upstream Sustainability Services team at JLL, based in London, UK. and Green Building Councils. A list of all those individuals and organisations that have been involved in the process and contributed to the report is available on the back cover. WorldGBC is very grateful for everyone’s contribution. It’s been a delight, in my role as Chair of the WorldGBC Offices Working Group, to work with the fantastic WorldGBC team, together with all the expert members of our group, in helping to drive the property industry momentum on healthy, green buildings. Seeing the tremendous growth in levels of awareness, dialogue and activity on this topic around the world is a real encouragement and inspiration. It’s a testament to the enthusiasm and hard work of all those involved in the green buildings sector that we now hear of so many stories of companies, both large and small, choosing to adopt new office design standards, changing their working practices and trialing new technologies; all with the aim of improving the workplace environment for the wellbeing benefits of their own staff, tenants or clients. I would like to wholeheartedly thank all the contributors to this latest milestone report which provides a window into these stories. Each in turn are contributing to the culture change being felt across the built environment. As Winston Churchill said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” COVER PHOTO © INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE CENTRE, 2016 PHOTO © HYSAN PLACE, 2016 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS CASE STUDIES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 MAIN REPORT 8 Introduction: Building the Business Case 10 WorldGBC's Framework for Healthy, Green Offices 12 Eight Features that make Healthier and Greener Offices 14 Case Studies and Spotlights 16 What's Next? 46 SAINT-GOBAIN - PAGE 18 - Doubling call-centre productivity. SKANSKA - PAGE 20 - Cutting sick days . References 48 Acknowledgements Back Cover SPOTLIGHTS DELTA DEVELOPMENT GROUP - PAGE 24 - The €42 million STŌK + BIOME - PAGE 30 - Fewer bad air work hours with a net benefit healthy, green building. novel green wall. SPOTLIGHT: COGFX STUDY 2 - PAGE 22 SPOTLIGHT: CANADA - PAGE 26 TRCA - PAGE 36 - Improving satisfaction and design with TD BANK GROUP - PAGE 40 - The first WELL v1 Certified™ employee engagement. Gold Office under WELL v1. SPOTLIGHT: GOOGLE - PAGE 28 SPOTLIGHT: AUSTRALIA - PAGE 32 SPOTLIGHT: IWBI - PAGE 34 SPOTLIGHT: MIDDLE EAST REGION SPOTLIGHT: HONG KONG - PAGE 42 DLR GROUP - PAGE 44 - Engaging employees with Indoor PAGE 38 Air Quality (IAQ) knowledge. 2 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 Photo © ZERO CARBON BUILDING, 2016 5 More collaboration and less absenteeism EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Medibank, Melbourne, Australia Six-Star Green Star - Office Design V3 Medibank, Australia’s largest health insurer, reports that 80% of staff are working more collaboratively, absenteeism is Employers, building owners, designers, developers, and investors throughout the world are learning, in response to an down 5% and two-thirds of staff report feeling healthier in their new office, which includes 26 types of workspaces, edible increasing body of evidence, that office design affects the health and wellbeing of occupants in many ways and so it is a gardens and sports facilities. smart business move to create green buildings that are healthy. Staff are the most valuable resource in most organisations, typically accounting for 90% of business operating costs, so even a This report, and the case studies and spotlights presented within it, further strengthens the 1% improvement in productivity can have a major impact on the bottom line and competitiveness of any business. business case for firms to take action to create green working environments that enhance the health, wellbeing and productivity of their employees, and which result in clear and tangible Photo © JEFFREY TOTARO, 2016 Building developers, owners, and investors are also discovering the business value benefits to their bottom line. of delivering to their markets healthy, green buildings. In a survey of 200 Canadian building owners, for example, 38% of those who reported increased value said healthy buildings were worth at least 7% more than normal ones, 46% said they HOW TO ACT ON HEALTHY, GREEN OFFICES were easier to lease, and 28% said they commanded premium rents. Organisations of all sizes stand to benefit by creating green buildings which improve the health and wellbeing of their occupants. WorldGBC has developed, and continues to refine, a simple three-pillar Framework to help individuals, whether they are This World Green Building Council report, Building the Business Case: Health, sustainability executives, HR professionals, facility managers, from the tenant side or owner/manager side, to assess and Wellbeing and Productivity in Green Offices, shows the global momentum quantify the health, wellbeing and productivity of the people in their building, and therefore, the buildings themselves. behind green buildings that are healthy and marks a significant milestone in our Better Places for People campaign. ENVIRONMENT It provides best practice examples of healthy, green offices, showing that Measure eight features of a green workplace to determine how they affect its occupants. Each element can be employers who care about the environmental impact of their buildings as well as the health and wellbeing of their staff, and measured objectively and assessed in light of a green building rating system and building code. take action to improve the quality of the workplace, are rewarded by improved productivity and loyalty, which can be worth many times more than their investment. EXPERIENCE Survey occupants to match the measures of the environmental features with how occupants feel about their workplace Some examples from the report: and whether they feel the environment supports or detracts from their wellbeing and productivity. Cutting sick days by two thirds ECONOMICS Skanska, Doncaster, United Kingdom Measure six economic factors, likely already collected at a corporate level and/or by HR staff, and track these over BREEAM-UK 'OUTSTANDING' time as improvements are made to the office environment. Skanska UK saved £28,000 ($36,000) in 2015 in absenteeism costs, and reduced the green payback period of an office move from 11 to 8 years by achieving 3.5 times fewer building-related sick days alongside increased employee comfort and satisfaction. Over twenty national Green Building Councils around the world are championing the cause of healthy green buildings, through certification and rating tools, research and stakeholder New healthy workplace is worth €42m engagement to show how organisations all over the world are profiting from increasing the Delta Development Group, Amsterdam, Netherlands health and wellbeing of the people in their green buildings. Research from organisations, BREEAM-NL 'EXCELLENT' such as Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, supported by United Heerema, the occupant, could see a €42 million net present value over 20 years due to increased productivity, staff Technologies (UTC), is transforming the way we understand the interaction between human retention, and reduced absenteeism, according to KPMG. health and wellbeing and the green workplace. Doubling call centre productivity Saint-Gobain, Malvern, PA, United States of America CALL TO ACTION LEED Platinum - Core & Shell and Interior We hope businesses, building owners, designers, and developers will be inspired by these case Saint-Gobain call centre staff in their new North American headquarters have achieved a 97% increase in sales-generated studies, which show how organisations all over the world are profiting from increasing the leads and 101% increase in leads per call since moving into the building. health and wellbeing of the occupants of their buildings. The WorldGBC calls on them to take Photo © WWF AUSTRALIA, 2016 action and unlock the business benefits of creating Better Places for People. 6 7 MAIN REPORT 8 Photo © RONALD LU & PARTNERS, 2016 9 INTRODUCTION: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE Building on the 2014 Offices report, this update therefore aims to: Communicate how companies are using health and wellbeing principles and the Metrics Framework in BUILDING MOMENTUM practice In 2014, the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) published “Health, Wellbeing & Productivity in Offices: The next chapter for green building”, a report which generated significant buzz in office stakeholder circles Share the research, results, and challenges they are and put the subject of healthy, green buildings firmly in the global real estate spotlight. developing and experiencing The report set out initial research, evidence, and case studies that the design of an office has a significant impact on the health, wellbeing and productivity of its occupants. It also found that there was often a virtuous circle of good design that This report aims to achieve impact through two means: works for both people and planet. The report highlighted, however, that a low carbon and resource efficient building is not always automatically healthier